mcconnellmadethe statement about his number one priority to be to deny obama a second term. not that he would think that, but he would say it. two questions -- why do you think it did not get even more play by the dems, and secondly, on the hill, among the republicans, were there people saying why in the world did you say that? it seemed like such an unsmart thing to say to me. >> that was a moment when even i was like, i can't believe he said it, too. but as i recall -- and please correct me -- i am pretty sure he said its suit the conservative crowd, either at the heritage foundation or isn't like that and he may have felt -- obviously it was public and not private -- like the 47% remarks from mitt romney -- he may have felt it would not get much press. >> he did say -- and i am not sure whether the interview was before or after the heritage remarks, but he did tell the press it was his priority. why wouldn't he? the upset party. but it is sort of mystifying that someone who is the consonant operator on capitol hill -- it is hard he spent any time of the capital not to have any respec

. -- fort worth, texas. caller: president obama needs to draw a line in the sign and tellmitchmcconnellandjohn boehner -- they do not respect him. they do not respect him as a man. do not just give away anything. i used to pick cotton. he had to do with the man said. that is what the republican party wants obama to do. he can do anything, but he has to talk with the republican party first. host: matthew from louisiana, a republican caller. caller: good morning. i voted for mitt romney. the first time i ever voted for liberty, freedom, and the rights of our constitution. i have one thing from abraham lincoln i would like to read real quick. you cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. you cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. you could not help the poor man by destroying the rich. it cannot come into the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred. you could not encourage by taking away initiative and independence. you could not help small men by tearing down big men. you cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer. you cannot keep out of troub

is the meaning of his election? what were voters saying?mitchmcconnellsaidthis is not a mandate to continue the excesses' of your first term. john boehner seemed more open to the idea of allowing more revenue, the rate increases on fiscal cliff issue. i think the president, and i know his left wing, is certainly holding him to the pledge on the campaign trail that he will let the proper rate expire at the end of the year and intends to hold his own in arguing for that. host: margaret talev, that brings up the mandate question. does he say what george w. bush said, i have political capital and i intend to spend it? guest: if you have it, use it, or what other people say it for you. right now, president obama's game is not to come out of the box, acting takeda, and give republicans -- acting cocky and giving republicans an idea -- a reason to want to stick it to him. he is saying let's get this done. that is what he is serious about, there is no reason to set yourself up as having more leverage than you do. host: margaret talev, and the go to this headline in bloomberg. what does he do on his

out maybe one year ago. andmitchmcconnellburiedit. he did not want the information known. the news report is out there. i am sure you can find it. but mitch mcconnell was the one that buried it in did not want that publicly known that it is a fallacy. i want to ask, especially you, mr. representative, the last two years since you people have taken over, you have barely showed up for work. we are paying your salary. i do not see not one of you put any skin in this game. you are sitting there, you do not even show up for work for half of the two years of taken over. we are paying your salary, paying your benefits. i do not see you putting in the skin in the game. my my husband has been a steel worker. he has to work 60-to-80 hours a week. this notion of the 47% not paying taxes, and entitlement, my husband has been paid in into his benefits for 40 years. host: we will have the congressman respond, but let me ask you a question, what you think of increase in the age of people qualifying for medicare or social security? caller: my husband has been a steelworker for 37 years. my husband

to a generational thing. could either one of them make a deal stick within their caucuses? evenifmcconnellandreid both tried to put something together, they have some exotic people on their side. you are absolutely right, and then toss in one more factor. you've got all the dysfunctional capitol hill, and then you have a president that basically has no relationship whatsoever with congress on either side. virtually no interaction with members of congress. wow. >> i don't agree with anything charlie just said. no, i agree with everything he just said. the key may be whether the president shows decisive leadership. i don't think decisive leadership necessarily is what he showed a lot of the time in the first term. not that he did not show any leadership. he did not get his hands really dirty. the public option fight we had, if you send it to may i will sign it. he let nancy pelosi take the lead on the public option, and on a lot of things. we knew what he preferred, but he did not twist arms. he just did not seem to get involved in the details. is he going to do that now? if he does that,

work. speaker boehner, minorityleadermcconnell, justfor openers. shannon: next week they will have a meeting at the white house. there are so many issues cop the beginning of the year. there are 7 different categories of taxes that will expire. there are taxes associated with the president's healthcare law and a surtax on people. essentially in the words of someone i should cite. essentially they accuse the american people of voting for unknowingly or being uninformed for a $500 billion tax increase. they just vote for it. >> both republicans and democrats signed up for it it was a way of absolving themselves of the necessity of using judgment, discreet judgment and take responsibility so it created and i automatic mechanism called sequestration it's mind boggling the irresponsibility. it's no wonder politicians are rated oh low about it american public because both parties were performing horribly here. i was heartened to hear senator mcconnell say he didn't come to washington, d.c. to raise taxes. speaker boehner said he was waiting for the president's leadership. and of course t

! next. >> leader pelosi -- >> i guess -- >> whoa! >> you always ask that question except tomitchmcconnell. >>oh, mitch mcconnell, the senate minority leader is 70 years old. nancy pelosi is 72. in the world of politics, age is kind of a skewed concept. average age of members of the house is 56. and of senators it's 62. i mean, paul ryan is thought of as a young gun. he's 42. that's eight years shy of being a card-carrying member of the aarp. ronald reagan was 69 when he first ran for president. many worried he was too old for the job until his famous quip during a debate. >> i will not make age an issue of this campaign. i am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience. >> yes, reagan used age to his advantage. but seriously, how old is too old? remember senator strom thurman who commuted from walter reed to the capitol at the age of 100? his aides had to vote for him. of course, this argument isn't limited to the world of politics. ageism rages in the role world, too. how often have you heard those under 30 grumbling about those old guys sucking up

about the fiscal cliff right now, whether you're in the white house or yourmitchmcconnell, whichare trying to devise a some kind of cover for john boehner. the voters last night in the exit polls said that they're willing to take higher taxes but they think the government is too big. that's the deal that banner and obama almost got two years ago. so it's there. is within reach but dana has to be given some kind of cover that he can bring, 140 republican votes with him. it's going to be very difficult to do. obama will have to decide whether he wants to go off the cliff to give it up that preoccupation that we have with bush tax cuts, or whether he's going, the better passers, try to cloak into something big and mushy and do we like tax reform, and stretch it out and let the deal be massaged in such a way to increase revenue and more money for growth. anything to avoid that horrible road called a tax increase. but this is the hard work that is ahead. obama has got to make that decision. >> we heard the last panel toggle bit redistricting and its impact on partisanship, especially

. >> eric: another quick point. when you have john boehner andmitchmcconnellandmitt romney talking about immigration, immigration reform, it doesn't hold the water, the credibility when marco rubio or ted cruz or martinez does it, who has a better background and basis for making comments on it. that is why it -- >> bob: it's a question of policy. are they going to change policy? >> eric: they are the ones to do it. if you're romney with immigration reform. >> dana: in 1986, they passed the bill, the immigration bill because of the amnesty bill in 1986, republicans are the ones that passed that. ronald reagan signed it. republicans lost seats in 1988. i don't know if that is the right rabbit to chase. >> bob: they increased percentage among hispanics. >> andrea: i still say no, matter what, amnesty, free healthcare, student loans. give, give, give. g.o.p., no quick fix and it doesn't see a harvard professor to see where it's going. coming up, the main stream media may not be totally to blame for the republican losses this week but they weren't fair and balanceed in the reporting. what sho

with john boehner, the senate republican leadermitchmcconnell. ishe planning on sitting down with those two republican leaders any time soon? is the white house saying? >> reporter: there's nothing announced for a leaders meeting so far. but i am certain, wolf, that that will be coming because there's such important negotiations ahead. i'm told that the president's conversation with speaker boehner was courteous, it was brief. and i'm told that they also discussed the importance of keeping their public statements vague or general enough so that they leave themselves enough private negotiating room to get a deal done to avoid the fiscal cliff, wolf. >> that's probably smart too. thanks very much for that, jessica. let's dig a little bit deeper right now with our chief political analyst gloria borger. isn't his responsibility right now though to take the first step, offer a proposal to boehner, to mcconnell, to the republicans? we assume that the democrats, nancy pelosi would go along and harry reid would go along with the president. >> well, i think as jessica's saying, the president bel

? barack obama is not interested in compromise. keith, you just contradicted yourselves. >>mitchmcconnellhasbeen the guy out there saying it, and all republicans are not willing to have any new tax increases. >> that's not true. there's a difference between raising revenues and raising taxes. >> no, i said tax increases, though. tell me, am i wrong about that, steve? >> no, you are wrong. >> when did he say differently? >> look, i interviewed him this week. he said it many times. he said it on the senate floor. we're willing to compromise on raising taxes. that's something that a lot of republicans aren't real happy with, but he said look, i'm willing to put revenues on the table. but what he's saying, keith, let's be very clear. >> you're saying revenue. i'm saying tax increases. >> right. >> the bush tax rates -- no, i'm talking about bush tax rates. they expire on december 31st contin. >> that's what republicans won't agree to. the answer is no, we're not going to let those rates go up because it's going to do significant damage to the economy. >> like it did during the clinton admin

. from what i hear frommitchmcconnell, ido not like. i am a kentucky citizen. it is about time for him to retire. i think mr. john boehner wants to work out a deal. i really do. he has to get through. kantor and some of the others on the extreme right. -- eric cantor and some of those on the right. i do not like the extremism. it is not helpful to the country at all. host: thank you for the call. we read this at the top of the program. on our twitter page, there is this -- nancy cook puts it this way. "game of chicken." her answer, probably not. george is on the phone from the line for republicans. caller: i just think when the voters spoke on the past election that we as citizens are being shortchanged. we vote our -- our constituents voted for representatives, but we are not being represented. in the last 30 days of the campaign, i decided to be an independent. i was not convinced everybody was being fairly treated with the tax cuts. therefore, i believe speaker john boehner, rip cantor, reid, and the president to sit down and realize we elected them to look out for our best interest

post" tomorrow. he said, america deserves better. it does. it begins with him. but we also--mcconnellhasto be engaged. reid has to be engaged. we are at a press pus here. maybe it's -- prepice here. we need to do some of it now and we got to do a lot of it next year. if they do the right thing, then our country will benefit and their legacy will be secure. but forget that. >> so i want to open this up in just a minute because there are a lot of people in this room who are engaged in this effort, frankly, in a more activist way in the way c.e.o.'s have been engaged in anything like this in a long time. i want to ask you one thing about the election results. very close election. but striking the demographic divides that it revealed about the country. the republican voters frankly looked a lot like us. look around this room. it was middle age white males. the democratic voters, you know, overwhelming majority among latinos, among asians, among -- among african-americans. among young people. among unmarried women. what does that mean? what does that say about the country? is it a good t

. that person is not really identified right now.mitchmcconnellleadsthe senate minority. john boehner leads the house majority but they're not leading the party. and -- i'm sorry. lori: will paul ryan have resurgence? >> that is interesting question. he lost his home state. governor romney and paul ryan lost his home state in wisconsin. they didn't do well there. he, to me it is a very open question as to what his role will be. it will be obviously have the opportunity to create a role and to define himself better but he sure going to have to be more than a one-trick pony. he has to learn to say something besides budget. it is really important that he go beyond that in his, in his political persona. the, you know the republicans have got lots of smart folks but man those smart folks have to start thinking and they have got to start working. we have a lot of lazy republicans it looks to me like. and i'm talking about leading the party, and it in its various factions. we have lazy republicans when it comes to turning out to vote. that was the big deal. melissa: go vote. lou dobbs, thank you s

. >> i guess -- oh, you've always asked that question except to mitchmcconnell. >> he missed the question. joan what happened there was luke russert got to ask a question during speaker -- former speaker pelosi's press conference yesterday with all of the democratic-elected officials on stage. and he asked about her age and about the fact that she's hanging on to the leadership position and isn't that depriving someone younger of getting it. and former speaker pelosi astutely pointed out that he would never ask that question of mitch mcconnell and then she said this. >> let's, for a moment, honor it as a legitimate question. although it is quite offensive but you don't realize that, i guess. the fact is -- the fact is that everything that i have done in my almost -- i guess decade now of leadership is to elect younger and newer people to the congress. >> john: that's a smackdown luke russert. i mean that's just -- come on. you don't! when have you ever heard someone bring up age -- even john mccain. no one e

. the president said that -- i guess he was going to walkmitchmcconnell's dogor wash john boehner's car in terms of going to capitol hill during the election, in terms of getting it done. the president, legislative leaders, and the american people, the voters are trying to figure this out. how do we compromise? can compromise be tempered by conscience? should first principles be given up for second chances? where do we go? do we say okay, tax the rich but don't put in political supreme court justices? do we say okay, yeah, we're going to do global warming, but at the same time we're not going to do the deficit the way the president wants to have it done? do people walk away from what they believe in the hope of bringing this country together? i think in the end not. i think what people have to walk away from is pride and ego and i'm referring to those same political leaders that you referred to at the beginning of the segment. if they walk away from their pride, they walk away from their ego and say, i'm going to think about gretchen carlson, and think about people in indiana. i'm going

themselves. frankly, i don't know if the republicans themselves, if john boehner andmitchmcconnell, knowhow much wiggle roop they have at this point. they're still serving their caucuses and trying to figure out where everybody is. that more than anything is going to determine what kind of deal gets made. the democrats are presenting a very united front. they seem very confident. people on the left are very encouraged by the strong statement that the president made on friday. >> you also wrote here in your most recent column that at least at this point it looks like we know which president obama is going to show up for these negotiations. it is not going to be the compromiser in chief. >> right, the sort of tremendously weak negotiator he proved to be on the debt ceiling a year ago is the one democrats were fearful was going to show up again. at least so far you had him pointing to his leverage on friday. that's encouraging for democrats. >> amy, what are the chances that the speaker is going to be able to get some of his folks to fall in line? >> well, it's going to be a very tough tas

to compromise. it was republicans led by quite franklymitchmcconnellwhosaid his job was to see the president get defeated who blocked everything the president wanted. the president wasn't the problem on the compromise. you see in the exit polling, american people say we want this sort of raised revenues and want the tax breaks for the rich people to go away. the question is are the republicans in the senate and republicans in congress going to listen to what the american people said and go along with it. >> does that meanest not wedded to the $250,000? >> i will take what mr. carney said. >> the president has been open to some compromise. >> he went out of his way the other day to say i am not saying all my ideas have to be accepted, i am open to compromise, i am open to new ideas. i want to make sure this gets done. >> you have to understand what the president is doing. and this is not civics 101. he has a tough mine to plan. his goal is to break republicans on the tax pledge. the way he will do that is he says i am going to load you up an offer so appealing to so many of your constituents,

that are relevant. because mitt romney's no longer relevant. go to john boehner, go tomitchmcconnellandsay let's promote these policies that help poor people that help the middle class that promote jobs. that's what the president's been trying to do. that's what he's calling for in saying that the wealthy should pay their fair share. it'd be nice of some of these moderate thinkers or new thinkers like jindal actually held the republicans who are in power to task a little more instead of kicking the last guy down the road. >> you tweeted this, ana navarro, livid at romney saying obama won because offered minorities "gifts." as if he didn't alienate hispanics enough wliel running. look in mirror, mitt. >> i'm very upset about the comments mitt romney made. it shows him having sour grapes. that's not a great exit for a man who just lost. you need to look at yourself, the campaign. go and look at the film. how did you run your campaign towards hispanic, african-americans? are you satisfied with what you did? does it correlate with the amount you got? also, it's frankly offensive. i can tell you as

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